Science Fiction

1
Science Fiction

• Genre and Concerns

2
Familiar Science Fiction

• Star Wars
• Star Trek
• 2001 A Space Odyssey
• Independence Day
• I, Robot
• Men in Black
• Terminator
• The Matrix
• Jurassic Park

3
What do these stories all have in common?

• Setting the future
• Advanced technology
• genetic engineering, intelligent robots,
• experimental medicine
• Concerned with outer space
• aliens, space travel, other planets and solar
  systems
• Paranormal Phenomena and the Occult
• ESP, telekinesis, psychics

4
Sci Fi vs. Fantasy

• Science fiction is based in fact some of the
  technology is invented, some of the places are
  made up, but all of it is conceivable.
• Fantasy is not based in reality it is purely
  imaginative.
• Consider Will Smith vs. Harry Potter

Versus
5
Science Fiction vs Fantasy

• Science Fiction follows the natural laws of our
  known world, but takes them to extremes by asking
  what if?

• Fantasy
• Contains elements that violate the natural,
  physical laws of our known world like magic.

6
Science Fiction vs Fantasy

• Setting both science fiction and fantasy make
  use of real and make believe settings on other
  planets or in other worlds.
• Fantasy presents ideas that are NOT possible in
  the world as we know it. It does, however,
  follow rules within the limits of the world the
  author has created.

7
Science Fiction Its all about the What if

• Authors chose to write in the science fiction
  genre because it allows them to reflect upon
  different scenarios in the future, based on
  whats happening today.
• Science fiction allows us to investigate
  societys fears, dilemmas and concerns if we take
  a certain course of action, or if we keep doing
  things the way that we are.

8
Why SciFi?

• Makes us consider the emotional, psychological,
  and physical effects of futuristic ideas,
  conflict and change.
• Encourages us to keep an open mind to consider
  unlimited possibilities.
• Provokes questions regarding other forms of life,
  thereby bringing our own into perspective.
• Stimulates curiosity and the capacity for
  invention.
• Presents the reader with moral and ethical
  dilemmas that correspond to the real world.

9
SF History

• Origins
• The Golden Age
• The Big Three

10
Origins

• Mary Shelley 1797-1851. Wrote Frankenstein at
  age 21 (1818) and The Last Man in 1826. This is
  considered the first real Science Fiction.
• Jules Verne - 1828-1905. Wrote what were labeled
  Scientic Romances not because they were
  lovey-dovey but because they presented a hero on
  a quest to uphold a high ideal. Best known for
  20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in
  Eighty Days, and Voyage to the Center of the
  Earth.
• H.G. Wells 1866-1956. Wrote science fiction
  that, following Mary Shelleys lead, looked at
  the impact of science on society. The Time
  Machine and When the Sleeper Wakes looked at the
  future from a broad perspective

11
Science Fiction The Golden Age

• From the 1930s to the 1950s, science fiction
  experienced its first renaissance. John W.
  Campbell editor of Astounding Science Fiction
  Stories and his writers (including Asimov and
  Heinlein) largely dominated the field. Heinlein
  was published in the Saturday Evening Post, being
  the first science fiction writer to make it to
  the mainstream. Several science fiction novels
  were published, and the level of writing improved
  over the pulp magazines of a few years before.
• Issac Asimov on The Golden Age
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vpySVYz4GfzE

12
Science Fiction WritersThe Big Three!

• More than any other writers, Robert A. Heinlein,
  Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke influenced the
  genre. Despite being radically different in many
  ways, their approaches to SF set the tone for
  generations to come. Their writings included the
  use of hard science, more character development
  than the pulp writers of the time used, and the
  idea of future histories.